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I was so excited to get to California. For years I have been dreaming of taking an extended trip up the Pacific Coast Highway, and am elated that I am able to get the opportunity to do it now. So, I thought it was quite fitting to begin that trip by going to of my favorite places, San Diego, on my birthday. Though a majority of the day was spent driving, it was fantastic to step out of the van, smell the salty air, see palm trees sway and catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Oh, how I love the ocean. Since we were both so exhausted, we decided to check into our hotel in La Jolla and lay low for the night. We walked to “The Shack” down the street, a local bar for one of my other favorites, fish tacos.

Wednesday I was feeling pretty tired when we headed to La Jolla Cove to do some walking and just hang out at the beach. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was for me just to take in the sights, watch the sunning seals, the soaring gulls and pelicans, feel the sand under my feet and waves crash on my legs. I could spend endless days just doing those very things. That evening we went out for my birthday dinner at a great seafood place called The Anchor where I had some scrumptious butter-drowned shrimp scampi, clam chowder, fried potatoes and apple crisp for dessert. I may have paid for all of the delicious fat-laden food when I woke up sicker than a dog at three in the morning, although I’m not entirely sure of the cause.

Thursday our plan had been to go to the fabulous San Diego Zoo, although I wasn’t certain I’d have enough vigor to make it. We decided to go a little later than planned, and I’m so glad we did. I think that the Minnesota Zoo is a very good zoo (as far as zoos go), but San Diego far surpasses it in size and quality. We went on a bus tour of the entire place (which takes 6 hours on foot), saw a bird show, and then looked at several of the exhibits. Although I would like to mention every animal I loved, it would take a whole page, and really, no one wants to read about all that! All I know is that there was a whole lot of “luscious fatties” (as I like to refer to my animal friends) in that zoo. We left just before close and high-tailed it to Palm Springs, where my good friend and former co-worker David has a beautiful home with his partner Larry and they graciously offered it up to us. We happily accepted! Their abode is unbelievable…designed and decorated to perfection, and has a private terrace with a view of the mountains. Liberace’s former residence is located just across the street, and David tells me that movie stars such as Marilyn Monroe used to stay in these villas before they were owned as residences.

That being said, we spent most of the day on Friday enjoying the house, leaving to go look at the city a bit, run some errands, and get groceries (we were very excited to have a full kitchen to make food). Later we enjoyed the pool and hot tub, and watched the documentary “Good Hair.” It was nice just to not only enjoy this beautiful place, but have a bit of “normal life” just watching TV and making dinner.

Saturday we decided to be a bit more active and visited Joshua Tree National Park, about an hour drive away. The park has a very visually interesting landscape, with what looked like huge rock piles of gigantic boulders, surrounded by smatterings of the very unique looking Joshua trees. We visited a few viewpoints like “skull rock” and went on a short hike. After spending the day lounging around the pool on Sunday, we hit the road towards Hollywood on Monday. Since this was kind of a transition/travel day, we didn’t do much other than locate our hotel in “The Valley” and go to dinner at an amazing Thai place for dinner.

Tuesday we made our big venture into Hollywood. We started by going to NBC studios in the morning to get tickets to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. From there we headed over to Hollywood Blvd to check out the “Walk of Fame” and saw other famous landmarks like the Chinese Theater, the Kodak Theater, the Capitol Record building, and of course the Hollywood sign itself. As we walked the boulevard we got swamped by people trying to sell us on getting a bus tour of the area. I was quite irritated, especially after one man sarcastically muttered “ooo…going to look at a bunch of stars on a sidewalk - that sounds like a whole lot of fun!” after we rejected his offer. But things definitely got interesting when Guy noticed some commotion taking place across the street where we had started to turn around. He thought we should check it out so we did. It turned out that we landed right at the prime spot (early) for the revealing of Julia Louis Dreyfus’ star! We decided to stay, and got to see not only “Elaine”, other Seinfeld stars Larry David, and Jason Alexander. The cast of “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” including Eric McCormack (from Will & Grace) were also there. Unfortunately the place that we had parked the van was about to “expire,” so Guy volunteered to let me stay while he moved the vehicle. I got to hear Larry David’s hilarious speech to Julia, as well as hover over her family who was right in front of me.

When the ceremony came to an end, the crowd started to get a bit antsy, yelling for the different stars to come and sign autographs. I’m pretty sure I merely blinked and all of the sudden Eric McCormack was standing directly in front of me. I had zero things in my possession him to sign (and really, I’m not into autographs), so I preceded to take photos right in his face which was about a foot away from me. Next Julia came right to the same spot, just inches from me. The crowd went nuts. I can still hear the echos of “Julia! Julia!” being screamed into my ear, and feel the security gate being pushed into my chest from all of the shoving. The guy behind me kept thrusting his DVD over my head and saying “Its for my daughter!” Frankly, I felt like I was ready to throw down and punch somebody. I thought it was great when Julia stopped, saw what was going on, and said “hey guys, back up, you’re crushing these girls!” When the commotion finally died down I made a break for it, and felt not only claustrophic, but a bit frazzled. It took me awhile to settle down from the whole mob scene.

We raced out of Hollywood to get some late lunch, then on to the taping for the Jay Leno show. We waited in lines to get into the show for quite awhile, but were next to the two most hilarious and talkative ladies in the whole place, which kept us very entertained. The guests featured were Scarlett Johansen, comedian Frank Caliendo and singer Michael Bolton (ha ha). It was pretty fun to be there and see how everything operates. The band was definitely a highlight - they still seemed enthusiastic after what must get boring day after day, and Guy and I even got a moment on the mic when the lead singer ran by. She was signing “Rollin Down the River” by Tina Turner, and when she put the mic in our face to sing the echo of “Rollin’” (without saying a word to one another) Guy sang really high and I sang really low. It was pretty funny. Jay’s monologue wasn’t too funny - especially considering the “warm up” guy who came on before him told us to laugh and clap no matter what. He also seemed pretty disengaged with the audience and crabby during the commercials, but I supposed after doing so many shows maybe you just don’t care about things like that anymore. Overall, it was a fun experience, and I’m glad we went. We were both completely exhausted after our big Hollywood day!

On Wednesday we took a ride through Beverly Hills, mainly to see what all the fuss what about at Rodeo Drive. It was a bit comical rolling through this upscale neighborhood in our slightly “worn” conversion van. Of course there were other tourists, but you could practically smell the money on the majority of shoppers walking down the street. BMWs and Lexus seemed to be just an “average” car, and we saw several drivers sharply dressed waiting for their clients to return from their shopping sprees. While we were too intimidated to shop in any of the stores, Guy wanted to take me to Sprinkles, a very trendy cupcake place that stars sometime visit. I, of course, was in heaven, and had a difficult time coming to the decision to purchase the chocolate coconut, while Guy had Red Velvet. While they were a whopping $4 a piece, it was fun to splurge. Next we drove to Santa Monica, where we walked on the Pier. Although touristy, it was fun to see the shops, street performers and rides. Its also the official end of Route 66, and setting for several movie scenes. That evening we met up with Guy’s peace corp buddy Ravi and his Dea girlfriend for dinner at Home Restaurant, and had a great time chatting with them and eating great food. They heard that we had eaten at Sprinkles, and suggested that Crumbs cupcakes were superior, so we or course had to find out for ourselves. We raced to get to the shop just in time. It was located in the Americana mall, which looked all magical - an outdoor/open shopping center with a lighted fountain in the middle, Frank Sinatra blaring in the background, and with a second round of cupcakes in hand, it was a great way to end the night.

Thursday was our final day in Southern California, which included a drive to posh Santa Barbara to lounge at the magnificent East Beach. Since the beach is one of my favorite things in the world, I was in heaven just to snuggle into the warm soft sand and sun-bath, nap and relax for a few hours. We both ventured into the icy water for a quick dip, then decided it was time to go. We ended up “beach camping” that evening at El Capitan State Beach. Although we weren’t really on the beach, we had a beautiful view of the ocean, and a fellow camper called me over to show me a mother and baby whale passing only a 100 yards from the shore. They put on a great show of spraying water into the air and popping their heads out for just a moment.

Southern California is one of my favorite places on earth (so far). Oh, how I didn’t want to leave…